Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Wow

I felt that it was time for an update on a few of the things Inara is doing and saying at the moment.

As far as preschool goes, she's been sad a few of the times that we've
dropped her off, but according to the teachers, she's happy the rest of
the day. They've commented on how she's very good at letting them know
what she wants by nodding, shaking her head and pointing. I always ask
her if she wants to go to preschool in the morning and she always nods.
When I pick her up, I ask her things like if they napped, if they had
lunch and if they went to the forest. She usually ponders for a second,
then nods or shakes her head.

Her spoken vocabulary is growing. The newest addition is "kråka" (crow) and she makes the crow
sound if you ask her to. She's switched from just sticking her tongue
out like a cat when presented with one, to actually saying "katt". She
also makes most of the common animal sounds. Some more of her recent
words are: ball, there it is, "kolla" (check it out), fly, oj, tack
(thanks), and wow. The other day, she was playing with something when
all of a sudden she noticed that Andrew had put a shirt with wolves on.
Her eyes got big as she pointed and exclaimed: "Wooow!".

She has
started swimming lessons again. The first time back, it seemed as if she
had forgot a lot of what she'd learned, but last time she was back in
the game. However, she is a lot more vocal about when she doesn't want
to do something now. A lot of: "nej, nej, nej, nej, nej, nej", followed
by vigorous head shaking going on.

Her favorite toys at
the moment are her blocks, legos, one of her large stuffed toys, her
hammer and nail toy, her toy cart, crayons and stickers. Books are still
a big draw too, as well as climbing anything and everything in sight.
We sometimes let her watch videos on the computer and she seems to enjoy
Shaun the Sheep, different wild animals and people dancing. Andrew also
downloaded some apps for her to play with on his Ipod and that usually
buys us a few more minutes of sleep in the morning. She likes playing hide and seek (although she only does the seek part) and chasing us.

On the days that she goes to preschool she doesn't get to sleep for as long as she does at home, so those days can get pretty rough right around dinner time. Overall, she's happy and full of energy and fun.

Yep, she seems to know them both equally well, but she is speaking mostly Swedish words so far. They say that the best way to do it is one parent - one language. It may get a little confusing at first and she'll probably mix them, but pretty soon they realize that they're separate. Multilingual kids are sometimes a bit slower in the beginning, but often excel later. I think about some kids who learn maybe four or more languages when they're growing up (in India for example). That's pretty amazing!

About

We're a Swedish/American family of four currently living on an island in the Baltic Sea. We talk and laugh a lot and sometimes fight. This blog was created so that loved ones both near and far could stay up to date on what we're doing. I also sometimes write about things that I find important or inspiring. The result is a mixture of mostly sweet with the occasional hint of bitter.

Us

Inara Loretta

Born June 23, 2011.

Enjoys: Singing and dictating when and what her parents can sing. Drawing, stickers and books. Also running around in circles screaming at the top of her lungs. Telling stories, tickles, spinning and hide-and-seek. Her little sister (as long as she isn't getting too close to her toys). Vehicles and animals of all shapes and sizes. Hugs and kisses and making us laugh until we cry (and sometimes the other way around).

Alba Rose

Born September 16, 2013

Enjoys: Her big sister, peek-a-boo, babbling and rolling around. Also bubbles popping in the bathtub and stuffed animals being dropped on her by Inara.